New York: Campaign by Consensus

"I guess we are pretty much agreed on everything," admits Democratic
Candidate Orin Lehman. "There isn't much difference on issues," says
his Republican opponent, Theodore Kupferman. Their Alphonse-Gaston
dialogue has brought stupefaction to voters of New York's 17th
Congressional District, one of the most sophisticated, issue-conscious
constituencies in America. Covering the east-central quarter of
Manhattan Island, the district includes the art, music, publishing,
theatrical and television nerve centers of the nation, upper-level
Greenwich Village latitudes, and the gold-paved stretches of Fifth and
Park avenues. Next week the 17th elects a successor to John Lindsay,
who resigned after seven years as...